1. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art systems for preventing the erosion of metal objects and/or plaster located in swimming pools and the water therein having chemicals such as chlorine therein are well known in the prior art. Such systems inhibit electrolysis, which causes plaster discoloration and erosion of metals in the pool water by employing a sacrificial anode. This anode is preferably of zinc, which gives up its ions rather than the other metals.
In such a system, the metal is depleted as particles are withdrawn therefrom. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,263 issued on Sep. 4, 1990 to Woodhouse. In such prior art systems, the metal piece, which acts as a sacrificial anode is located and covered up in a manner so that it cannot be conveniently viewed to determine that the depletion has reached the point at which the anode needs to be replaced. Further, such prior art systems do not provide a simple and convenient procedure for replacing the anode.
2. Features of the Present Invention
In the present invention, there is a metal piece sacrificial anode, which is contained in a transparent tubular container and placed in a location in the filtration system of the pool so that it can readily be viewed from regions external the pool. Thus, when the metal in the metal piece sacrificial anode is depleted to the point at which it needs replacement, this information is readily available by observing the condition of the metal piece sacrificial anode. The metal piece sacrificial anode is attached to the container and can easily and rapidly be removed and replaced as required.